A mum has been arrested after a three-year-old girl was flung 16ft into a brown bear’s cage at a zoo.
Keepers and spectators looked on in horror as the huge animal went to investigate the child - but incredibly did not attack her.
The bear - named Zuzu - went up close and sniffed the little girl, but then wandered away, and was quickly enticed into an internal part of the cage so staff could rescue the child, said witnesses.
The little girl's mum now faces an attempted murder charge after the shocking ordeal.
Witnesses had tried to stop her throwing the child into the enclosure, a spokesman for the zoo in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, said.
He stated: “A young woman threw a little girl down into a brown bear’s enclosure, in front of all the visitors.
“It was completely unclear what her motive was.
“‘Both the visitors and the staff of the zoo were trying to stop her - but failed.”
She said: "We are scared to even think how this would end if the bear were to react at the toddler as its prey.
“Zuzu, a male Caucasian Brown Bear was watching the woman, who threw the little one over a metal fence.
“She fell into a trench under the fence.
“Zuzu got slowly stood up, slowly got down the trench, walked towards the girl, sniffed her - and walked back.”
The mother - unnamed - has been detained and faces a minimum of 15 years in prison, say reports.
The girl suffered concussion, head cuts and bruises injuries from her fall “but not a single trace of wounds from the bear’s fangs or claws.”
She was also suffering “light shock”.
A picture showed her at the Republican Centre for Emergency Medicine in Tashkent.
"She was diagnosed with a concussion, caused by her falling from a height of five metres, and an open wound on her head.
"Currently her state is normal, but she remains under constant observation."
A criminal case for attempted murder has been initiated against the girl's mother.
